Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[HoopyFrood]

I had a quick question to ask and it seemed a little pointless to make an entire thread dedicated to it. So I thought a thread where people could ask very quick questions related to plot points in their current pieces might be useful, maybe? There you are, trying to write something and suddenly you stall because you're not sure you know that a tiny bit of information is correct or not...

I could just google this, but I know I'd probably come up with plenty of information and not just a straightforward yes/no answer, which is what I'm really looking for.

Would it painful (and if so, a lot?) if the optic nerve was severed?

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Rofl! What a question! If I was at home I'd find out from my parents since they're both doctors, but unfortunately I'm not.

*waits in anticipation for the answer*

 

[The Judge]

Might it depend on how it's being severed? A knife in the eye might be a little painful, yes...

 

[HoopyFrood]

That would definitely be so, yes!

However, in this case, it's just the nerve itself being snipped through, at the back of the eye.

 

[chrispenycate]

If done correctly, no. Nerves aren't pain detectors, they're information transmitters; that's why brain surgery can be done with the patient conscious, and talking.

But getting the scissors in without stimulating any of the intermediate sensory cells could be a bit complicated.

I suppose you could remove the eye from its socket for better access, but painlessly?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, that's what made me stall, being a nerve 'n all.

And don't worry, nothing as crude as scissors, this is a nice, clean snippity-snip of the nerve.

Danke!

 

[Pyan]

Umm...are you planning on any sort of practical experiment?

Just thought I'd ask, no particular reason...

 

[Colbey Frost]

I want to know more.... could use this as internal thought at the start of a book...

Is anyone else poking their eyes?

 

[alchemist]

What Chris said. Take pituitary gland tumours, for instance. They grow and impinge on the optic nerves/tracts, and cause loss of vision painlessly. The problem is, of course, the method, and what collateral damage you caused.

 

[Arkose]

Pain medication can fix any pain in a Science Fiction story if you want it to.

 

[HoopyFrood]

The pain itself isn't a big deal, as it's from the POV of someone who wouldn't care that much anyway. But it would be mentioned at least (or not, as is the case), which is why I wanted to check.

Thanks all!

Now...anyone else?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Ahh, you mean those places in my book where it says something like, "...turning onto (check Atlanta street map)..." or "...raided the hospital pharmacy for (find out what will kill a lion)..."?

The last one I had, I posted in the Lounge, but maybe it would get more response here. I need to know about NY's Central Park, whether it is possible to be far enough into the trees that you can't hear the city noises. And also if the noises surrounding it are honking and yelling and traffic.

 

[Droflet]

Okay, this sounds like fun. Thanks Hoopy.

How about a 12.5mm bullet powered by a 200gram charge hitting a human head. Okay, the guy dies but I'm just wondering if 200 gram is enough as these weapons are generally used on four tonne buffalos that have very thick skulls. Thoughts?

 

[MstrTal]

I got one.

How large does a single corporation and its subsidiaries/ holdings have to be to cause a world wide depression/ economic collapse if the corporation in question where to suddenly disappear taking with it all of its capitol and roughly one third its global work force and their families?

I.E. 'Company X' Is the worlds largest and most advanced manufacturer in a given field and has been for over a decade. What is not known is that quietly 'Company X' has been expanding behind the scenes buying into, buying out right, and starting companies in virtually every other market known to mankind globally and now owns a substantial stake in everything from agriculture, transportation, medicine, technology to bumper stickers. They have somehow gained a very large controlling interest in the global market without anyone noticing and now they are gone basically overnight.

How big would they have to be and is this feasible? Well let me reword that, think anyone would believe it?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Ahh, you mean those places in my book where it says something like, "...turning onto (check Atlanta street map)..." or "...raided the hospital pharmacy for (find out what will kill a lion)..."?

The last one I had, I posted in the Lounge, but maybe it would get more response here. I need to know about NY's Central Park, whether it is possible to be far enough into the trees that you can't hear the city noises. And also if the noises surrounding it are honking and yelling and traffic.

My housemates went to New York a few weeks back and went into Central Park. They're out for the entire day today, but when I next see them I'll try to remember to ask them this.

 

[alchemist]

Alas I can't answer any of the other questions, but I'll ask another. If an engineered virus wiped out the world's wheat crop, would it cause a worldwide famine? If not, how many crops would you need to destroy to cause worldwide famine?

 

[Culhwch]

I imagine the majority of the world's population would get by well enough on rice.

 

[alchemist]

Good point. I'll add rice to my "To Destroy" list, although if you knock out one crop, I imagine there will be greater demand on others.

 

[Hex]

On the rice/ wheat dying issue: I read a book at school called "Death of Grass" which may have been written by John Christopher. You may know all about it already, but I haven't heard of it since school and it might be useful so I thought I'd mention it.


Talking of those super-effective pain meds - if you had someone in constant pain who still had to operate effectively, would there be a structure to when they were meant to take their pain medication? I'm really looking for times of the day when someone might be pain-free (relatively) compared to times when they would be more likely to be distracted by pain.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I need to know about NY's Central Park, whether it is possible to be far enough into the trees that you can't hear the city noises. And also if the noises surrounding it are honking and yelling and traffic.

I went to New York and walked quite a bit around Central Park just a couple of weeks ago. It is really massive, you certainly can walk far enough in that you can't really hear honking and yelling and city noises - though I suspect you'd hear a faint hum if everything was silent - hard to tell since there are usually quite a lot of people walking around the park and musicians and such. Hope that helps!

Just by the by, Central Park is the best park ever invented. It's quite incredible how large it is considering where it is. It's also totally picturesque, and has everything you could want in a park.